§ 35-2-901 — Definitions; applicability of provisions

(a) As used in this act:
(i) "Acute care" means short term care provided in a
hospital;
(ii) "Ambulatory surgical center" means a facility
which provides surgical treatment to patients not requiring
hospitalization and is not part of a hospital or offices of
private physicians, dentists or podiatrists. "Ambulatory
surgical center" shall include any surgical abortion facility as
defined by W.S. 35-6-201(a)(x);
(iii) "Birthing center" means a facility which
operates for the primary purpose of performing deliveries and is
not part of a hospital;
(iv) "Boarding home" means a dwelling or rooming
house operated by any person, firm or corporation engaged in the
business of operating a home for the purpose of letting rooms
for rent and providing meals and personal daily living care, but
not habilitative or nursing care, for persons not related to the
owner. Boarding home does not include a lodging facility or an
apartment in which only room and board is provided;
(v) "Construction area" means thirty (30) highway
miles, from any existing nursing care facility or hospital with
swing beds to the site of the proposed nursing care facility, as
determined by utilizing the state map prepared by the Wyoming
department of transportation;
Note: this paragraph is repealed by Laws 2025, ch. 102, § 2.
effective 7/1/2026.
(vi) "Department" means the department of health;
(vii) "Division" means the designated division within
the department of health;
(viii) "Freestanding diagnostic testing center" means
a mobile or permanent facility which provides diagnostic testing
but not treatment and is not part of the private offices of
health care professionals operating within the scope of their
licenses;
(ix) Repealed By Laws 1999, ch. 119, § 2.
(x) "Health care facility" means any ambulatory
surgical center, assisted living facility, adult day care
facility, adult foster care home, alternative eldercare home,
birthing center, boarding home, freestanding diagnostic testing
center, home health agency, hospice, hospital, freestanding
emergency center, intermediate care facility for people with
intellectual disability, medical assistance facility, nursing
care facility, rehabilitation facility and renal dialysis
center;
(xi) "Home health agency" means an agency primarily
engaged in arranging and directly providing nursing or other
health care services to persons at their residence;
(xii) "Hospice" means a program of care for the
terminally ill and their families given in a home or health
facility which provides medical, palliative, psychological,
spiritual and supportive care and treatment. Hospice care may
include short-term respite care for non-hospice patients, if the
primary activity of the hospice is the provision of hospice
services to terminally ill individuals and provided that the
respite care is paid by the patient or by a private third party
payor and not through any governmental third party payment
program;
(xiii) "Hospital" means an institution or a unit in
an institution providing one (1) or more of the following to
patients by or under the supervision of an organized medical
staff:
(A) Diagnostic and therapeutic services for
medical diagnosis, treatment and care of injured, disabled or
sick persons;
(B) Rehabilitation services for the
rehabilitation of injured, disabled or sick persons;
(C) Acute care;
(D) Psychiatric care;
(E) Swing beds.
(xiv) "Intermediate care facility for people with
intellectual disability" means a facility which provides on a
regular basis health related care and training to persons with
intellectual disabilities or persons with related conditions,
who do not require the degree of care and treatment of a
hospital or nursing facility and services above the need of a
boarding home. The term also means "intermediate care facility
for the mentally retarded" or "ICFMR" or "ICFs/MR" as those
terms are used in federal law and in other laws, rules and
regulations;
(xv) "Medical assistance facility" means a facility
which provides inpatient care to ill or injured persons prior to
their transportation to a hospital or provides inpatient care to
persons needing that care for a period of no longer than sixty
(60) hours and is located more than thirty (30) miles from the
nearest Wyoming hospital;
(xvi) "Nursing care facility" means a facility
providing assisted living care, nursing care, rehabilitative and
other related services;
(xvii) "Physician" means a doctor of medicine or
osteopathy licensed to practice medicine or surgery under state
law;
(xviii) "Psychiatric care" means the in-patient care
and treatment of persons with a mental diagnosis;
(xix) "Rehabilitation facility" means an outpatient
or residential facility which is operated for the primary
purpose of assisting the rehabilitation of disabled persons
including persons with acquired brain injury by providing
comprehensive medical evaluations and services, psychological
and social services, or vocational evaluations and training or
any combination of these services and in which the major portion
of the services is furnished within the facility;
(xx) "Renal dialysis center" means a freestanding
facility for treatment of kidney diseases;
(xxi) "Swing bed" means a special designation for a
hospital which has a program to provide specialized in-patient
long term care. Any medical-surgical bed in a hospital can be
designated as a swing bed;
(xxii) "Assisted living facility" means a dwelling
operated by any person, firm or corporation engaged in providing
limited nursing care, personal care and boarding home care, but
not habilitative care, for persons not related to the owner of
the facility. This definition may include facilities with
secured units and facilities dedicated to the special care and
services for people with Alzheimer's disease or other dementia
conditions;
(xxiii) "Adult day care facility" means any facility
not otherwise certified by the department of health, engaged in
the business of providing activities of daily living support and
supervision services programming based on a social model, to
four (4) or more persons eighteen (18) years of age or older
with physical or mental disabilities;
(xxiv) "Adult foster care home" means a home where
care is provided for up to five (5) adults who are not related
to the provider by blood, marriage or adoption, except in
special circumstances, in need of long term care in a home like
atmosphere. "Adult foster care home" does not include any
residential facility otherwise licensed or funded by the state
of Wyoming. The homes shall be regulated in accordance with this
act and with the Wyoming Long Term Care Choices Act, which shall
govern in case of conflict with this act;
(xxv) "Alternative eldercare home" means a facility
as defined in W.S. 42-6-102(a)(iii). The homes shall be
regulated in accordance with this act and with the Wyoming Long
Term Care Choices Act which shall govern in case of conflict
with this act;
(xxvi) "Freestanding emergency center" means a
facility that provides services twenty-four (24) hours a day,
seven (7) days a week for life threatening emergency medical
conditions and is at a location separate from a hospital;
(xxvii) "This act" means W.S. 35-2-901 through 35-2-
914.
(b) This act does not apply to hospitals or any other
facility or agency operated by the federal government which
would otherwise be required to be licensed under this act or to
any person providing health care services within the scope of
his license in a private office.